Play video and watch pictures in Windows Media Center

Applies to these editions of Windows Vista

Home Premium

Ultimate

With Windows Media Center, you can play your home videos and view your digital photos in a number of fun ways. You can also organize your digital media files to make them easier to access from your computer's hard disk.

If an unchanging image stays on the screen of some displays for too long, a faint remnant of the image might stay on the screen even after a new image has replaced it. This is called screen burn. To avoid screen burn on your display during video playback in Windows Media Center, you can change the shade of black that might appear to the left and right or at the top and bottom of your video.

On the start screen, scroll to Tasks, click settings, click General, and then click Visual and Sound Effects.

Under Video background color, click the - or + button to change the color. The default color is black—you can change it to different shades of gray, or to solid white.

On the start screen, scroll to Pictures + Videos, and then click picture library.

Click folders to sort your folders and files alphabetically, click date taken to sort your folders and files by date, or click tags to sort your files by tags that have been applied. (To learn more about tags and how to use them, see Tag pictures so they're easier to find.)

A slide show is a way to view a group of photos one-by-one at full screen. You can define a slide show group by folder, by date taken, or by tag. While a slide show is playing, you can move your mouse to make the transport controls appear. The transport controls enable you to play, pause, move to the previous or next slide, or end the slide show.

There are many options for customizing your slide show. You can specify the order in which pictures are shown, whether or not pictures in subfolders will be included in your slide show, the type of transition you want, the duration of the transitions, and other aspects of a slide show presentation.

On the start screen, scroll to Tasks, click settings, and then click Pictures. You can customize your slide show using the options on this screen.

Click Save to save the slide show settings.

Note

If you want to control Windows Media Center with a remote control, an optional Windows Media Center remote control is required.